Tae Woo Korean Restaurant at Central (Clarke Quay)

Hello everyone!! 

 

I've been on 3 months hiatus but I'm now back for more food reviews! To kickstart my first post in 2014, I will be introducing a must-visit to all Korean food lovers. *drum roll* Tae Woo Korean Restaurant (태우반점)!! 

 

It was an unexpected discovery as I browsed through the food directory guide in the mall. Realising that Tae Woo Korean restaurant serves Jjajangmyeon (짜장면), how can I give it a miss! I have expressed my love for Jjajangmyeon in my first food review here <3

Tae Woo Korean restaurant was a little tough to navigate but here we (Will and I) are!

 

Since it was our first visit, we decided to go with the Summer Course (여름 코스요리) to try out a variety of dishes. The Summer Course includes 6 dishes and costs $29 per pax (minimum 2 pax to order). Quite a good deal!! There are also other set meals for groups of 3 pax or more.  

 

Dish No.1: Cold dish (냉채)

 Cold dish (냉채)

The cold dish consists of Jelly fish, special Cold beef and Century egg. The jelly fish was VERY sour on first bite. Don't think it's over! The spiciness from the chillies topped on the jelly fish hits you several seconds after. Although I did not enjoy the jelly fish, it will be a favourite for people who love sour and spicy food. Thankfully, unlike the jelly fish, the special cold beef tasted normal and good!

Dish No. 2: Scorched Rice with Crabmeat Soup (누룽지 게살스프) 

Scorched Rice with Crabmeat Soup (누룽지 게살스프)

I have never seen such a soup before and it tasted better than it looked. If it was less starchy, I would have been able to finish the whole bowl. The soup has white foam-like egg white, shreds of crabmeat, enoki mushrooms and scorched rice in it. I absolutely loved the chewy texture of the softened scorched rice in the soup!

Dish No. 3:  Fried Chicken with Hot Soy Bean Sauce (유린기)

Fried Chicken with Hot Soy Bean Sauce (유린기)

Fried chicken in soy sauce is a favourite among Koreans as the sauce is a light and refreshing alternative in comparison to starch-thickened sauces. The fried chicken was crispy and delicious but I would prefer to have the sauce served separately. The crispy skin absorbs the soy sauce and it can be a little too salty. 

Dish No. 4: Prawn with Chilli Sauce (간소새우)  



 Prawn with Chilli Sauce (간소새우)

My second favourite dish of the course! The sauce is more of sweet and sour with a tinge of spiciness. Prawns were fresh and I loved the crunchiness of the diced vegetables (onions, carrots etc). Thumbs up!

Dish No. 5:  Sauteed Shredded Pork with Green Pepper (고추잡채 꽃빵)

Sauteed Shredded Pork with Green Pepper (고추잡채 꽃빵 )

The sautéed pork and vegetables was delicious. It is salty on its own, but perfect with the buns! Simply tear the bun into half or make a hole in the bun, and stuff the sautéed meat and vegetables into the bun.   

Dish No. 6: Black Bean Sauce Noodle (짜장면)  



Black Bean Sauce Noodle (짜장면)

 

 

My favourite dish of the course, Jjajangmyeon 짜장면! Looking at the black bean sauce just whets my appetite. The Jjajangmyeon did not disappoint me at all. Chewy noodles and the savoury black bean sauce (generous amount of onions in it!), Yummy!! 

After our meal, we were each given a slice of watermelon.

I will definitely be back to try the sweet sour pork (탕수육) and have more Jjajangmyeon! I can never get tired of it ^^

 

 

Tae Woo Korean Restaurant (태우반점)

6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#03-84, Central
Singapore 059817
Tel: 6224 8284

Cheers,
Mari

Ssikkek BBQ at Novena

On Saturday late afternoon, Will had a craving for Korean BBQ and the first Korean BBQ restaurant that came to mind was Ssikkek at Novena! ^^ 

 

For those who are unaware, Ssikkek has moved from Novena Ville to United Square.

 

 

Upon entering, I was amazed at the size of the restaurant. The current restaurant area is approximately two to three times larger than before! Despite that, the trademark long queue and large crowd in Ssikkek stayed the same (:

 

As Will and I did not make any prior reservation, we were told to sit at the chairs and wait. Seeing that there were empty chairs near the entrance, we grabbed our seats. NOTE!! Please do not make the same mistake as us. A minor confusion occurred and I learnt that customers were supposed to be seated in an orderly manner. If you are the first group of people in the waiting queue, please kindly take the seats nearest to the entrance. Subsequent groups of people are to queue and take the seats behind. As the staff will arrange tables according to the queue, do not sit randomly!!

 

After the minor confusion, we were finally told that a table was ready for us. To our surprise, we were led to a table for 6 in a small room for just the 2 of us. The staff (probably manager) kindly explained that he did not want us (customers) to wait too long and thus he gave us a reserved table. However, the condition was to finish our meal before 8pm. As it was only 6.30pm then, Will and I agreed.

 

The posters that decorate the wall of the small room...

 

 

 

 

My view from the room. Look at the crowd in the restaurant! This was only part of it -.-

 

Ignore the crowd, it's time to grab FOOD!! First up, they have salads, fruits and sauces on this round umbrella table that is so cute ^^ The round table design allows more people to have access to the food items at the same time.  

 

Next up is the wide spread of soups and cooked food! There were 4 different soups available that evening; Kimchi soup, chicken ginseng soup, seafood soup and seaweed soup.  

 

As for the cooked food, there were japchae mandu, fried chicken wings, fried noodles & beehoon, ddeokbukki, dakgalbi and japchae.

 

Food items for the BBQ include brinjal, radish, potato, enoki mushrooms, prawns, sotong, sausage, kimchi, fresh lettuce and more! 

 

 

And our star of the day, MEAT!! They have the spicy chicken, garlic chicken, spicy pork, rib eye, short ribs, pork belly, pork collar, beef roll, chunk tender and bacon. ^^

 

Not only does the restaurant offer a wide variety of cooked food and meat, they offer several choices of drinks too! With mango smoothie, lychee smoothie, lime juice, pomegranate juice and sikhye to choose from, I happily went with sikhye.

 

Finally time to dig in and enjoy our meal!

 

My favourite among the cooked food got to be the japchae mandu!! Although I had the mandu when it was cold, it was still good. The japchae and seaweed soup were great too. I love the sauce of the ddeokbukki as it was seasoned to be slightly spicy and not too sweet. Sadly, the ddeokbukki was not well cooked. It was still hard and not chewy.

 

As for the BBQ, I enjoyed the enoki mushrooms, sausage, garlic chicken, chunk tender and beef roll! The meat were really tender and well-marinated. Haha you can also prepare your own bacon-wrapped enoki or beef roll-wrapped enoki! Yummy!

 

On the whole, the BBQ buffet was decent! Being a meat lover, Will really ate his fill that day. ^^  

 

 

 

Ssikkek Korean Grill BBQ Buffet

101 Thomson Road #B1-15/16/17&34

United Square

Singapore 307591

Tel: 6254 8123

 

Mon to Fri: 11.30am - 2.30pm & 5pm - 11pm

Weekend, Public Holiday: 11.30am - 11pm

 

Lunch (Mon to Fri only): Adult $14++ / Child $9++

Dinner (Fri, Sat, Sun, PH eves & PH): Adult $24++ / Child $18++

 

 

 

 

Bye for now,

Mari

Dong Bang Hong Korean Chinese Restaurant (东方红)

Ever since I'm back from Korea last year (stayed there for 4 months), I have been craving for Korean food, especially Jjajangmyeon (짜장면) ᅲ.ᅲ In Korea, my friends and I often ordered delivery to our uni dorms. Record was food delivery for brunch, dinner and supper! Haha I remember us going around collecting all the food delivery adverts, be it 짜장면, 피자, 파닭 etc. We practically tried the 짜장면 from all the various restaurants that offered delivery to our uni dorms! *sense of achievement* haha

 

So back in Singapore, I'm always on the lookout for 짜장면 that tasted like the ones in korea. I have tried several versions (that claim to be authentic) in Singapore but they were nothing similar apart from the appearance. Recently, a best friend of mine told me that her friend has recommended a Korean Chinese restaurant that offers good 짜장면!! Without much hesitation, we settled for dinner at the restaurant last Saturday (:

 

Photo Credits: HungryGoWhere
 

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was around 7pm and we were greeted by friendly staff. As we were shown to our table, I observed that the restaurant was approximately half occupied and most of the restaurant customers were Koreans. Is it a sign of authentic Korean food?? Haha

 

First up from our order was the Fried Dumplings (군만두). No long waits for our order as the fried dumplings were served really quickly right after our order. The fried dumplings were fried till golden brown and crispy but were too oily for our liking. White vinegar saved the day or we won't be able to finish the dumplings.   



 

Fried Dumplings 10 Pcs for $12

Next up was Sweet and Sour Pork (탕수육). We ordered the small size for the 3 of us. Given the generous portion, it can definitely feed 3-4 people well. The 탕수육 looked and tasted quite similar to the ones I had in Korea! It consists of a pile of battered fried pork topped with a sweet and sour sauce and small cuts of vegetables like carrot and cucumber. I liked it that the sauce wasn't so sweet. But be sure to have the dish when its hot as once the sauce cools down, it thickens and solidifies. >.< Or you can probably request to have the sauce in a separate bowl!

Sweet & Sour Pork (Small) $28

What's a Korean dinner without our dear friend SOJU (소주)!! For those who are not really alcohol lovers but would like to give Soju a try, do go for the brand Chum-Churum (처음처럼) as I personally find it lighter and sweeter than other brands. Shake the bottle well before opening! Apparently it tastes better that way haha

A bottle of Soju $18

 

Actress Go JunHee! Haha I recognise her from the Korean reality variety show "We Got Married 우리 결혼했어요".

 

Cheers! 건배! 원샷!!!  

 

Okay after drinking a little, our next dish was up. Mapo Tofu with Rice (마파두부덮밥). It tasted very Chinese but it's good! The sauce and the silken tofu went really well with the rice.

 

Mapo Tofu with Rice $18

NOTE: the menu also has the similar a la carte version without rice and it costs $35 (if I'm not wrong). If you just want to give it a try, do order the one with rice as its much cheaper!

Lastly, our most awaited Jjajangmyeon (짜장면)!!! It is a noodle dish topped with a thick sauce (made of 춘장: black bean paste) that has diced onions, ground meat and other ingredients in it.

Jjajangmyeon $12

 

I wasn't disappointed! Although it still tasted slightly different, it is the best I've had in Singapore so far! The portion of the sauce and noodles was great, sauce not too salty, noodles chewy and not soggy, I really enjoyed it!! 

 

When we were almost done with our meal, the staff served us a slice of watermelon each. So sweet! Our dinner bill totalled up to $104 after GST and service charge for 3 pax. It is pretty reasonable considering the large portions. I will definitely be back again for their 짜장면!^^

 

Dong Bang Hong Korean Chinese Restaurant (东方红)
#01-01, Far East Square
92/94 Telok Ayer Street S048472
(Near Raffles Place MRT)
Daily: 11.30am - 03.00pm and 05.30pm - 10.00pm
Closed on Mondays


원샷,
Mari